Image forming apparatus, information processing system, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

ABSTRACT

An image forming apparatus includes: a communicating unit which communicates with a portable terminal device and an external device; a storage control unit which controls to store transfer destination information of the external device to which information from the portable terminal device is allowed to be transferred in a storage unit; a determining unit which determines whether a request from the portable terminal device is the request to the external device indicated by the transfer destination information stored in the storage unit; and a communication control unit which controls the communicating unit to transfer the request from the portable terminal device to the external device indicated by the transfer destination information when the determining unit determines that the request is the request to the external device indicated by the transfer destination information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and incorporates by referencethe entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-008797 filedin Japan on Jan. 20, 2015.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, aninformation processing system, and a non-transitory computer-readablemedium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Today, a multifunction peripheral (MFP) which may be operated from aportable terminal device such as a smartphone and a tablet terminaldevice, for example, is known. Setting of the MFP and execution of a jobof such MFP may be operated by the portable terminal device. Therefore,it is possible to operate various types of MFPs with different paneloperation by one portable terminal device. Even the MFP provided with anoperation panel with poor operability such as a so-called four-linepanel may be operated excellently by using the portable terminal device.

Today, BYOD (bring your own device) to allow an employee to use anindividually-owned portable terminal device for work in office is alsoknown. When the BYOD is allowed, the office should secure security of asystem. Therefore, when the MFP of the office is operated by theindividually-owned portable terminal device, authentication informationis transmitted from the portable terminal device to the MFP. The MFPtransmits the authentication information from the portable terminaldevice to an authentication server device. The MFP allows its operationby the portable terminal device when the authentication server deviceauthenticates that a user is a registered user.

Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-190864 discloses aninformation processing system in which an operational load of the useris reduced. In this information processing system, when a portableterminal starts wireless communication with the MFP, a password forconnection input by the user is transmitted to the MFP. When it isauthenticated that the user is the registered user by the password forconnection in the MFP, the MFP allows the wireless communication of theportable terminal. The portable terminal transmits the authenticationinformation required for access to a server device to the MFP throughthe wireless communication and requests the MFP to access the serverdevice.

The MFP transmits the authentication information received from theportable terminal to the server device through a first network to issuean access request. The server device performs the user authentication byusing the authentication information received from the MFP and allowsthe access by the MFP when the user is authenticated as the registereduser. According to this, the operational load of the user is reduced.

In a case of the information processing system in the conventionalmethod and that disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No.2013-190864, the authentication information transmitted from theportable terminal device is directly transmitted to the authenticationserver device through the MFP.

Therefore, when a malicious request is transmitted from the portableterminal device, this is directly transmitted to the authenticationserver device, so that the information processing system in theconventional method and that disclosed in Japanese Laid-open PatentPublication No. 2013-190864 have a security problem.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide an image forming apparatus, aninformation processing system, and a non-transitory computer-readablemedium enabling a communication between a portable terminal device andanother device connected to a network through an intermediating deviceconnected to a predetermined network while securing security of thenetwork.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided animage forming apparatus including: a communicating unit whichcommunicates with a portable terminal device and an external device; astorage control unit which controls to store transfer destinationinformation of the external device to which information from theportable terminal device is allowed to be transferred in a storage unit;a determining unit which determines whether a request from the portableterminal device is the request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information stored in the storage unit; and acommunication control unit which controls the communicating unit totransfer the request from the portable terminal device to the externaldevice indicated by the transfer destination information when thedetermining unit determines that the request is the request to theexternal device indicated by the transfer destination information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan information processing system including: a portable terminal devicewhich issues a desired request through a communicating unit; an externaldevice which processes the request from the portable terminal device;and an image forming apparatus which intermediates communication betweenthe portable terminal device and the external device, wherein the imageforming apparatus includes: a communicating unit which communicates withthe portable terminal device and the external device; a storage controlunit which controls to store transfer destination information of theexternal device to which information from the portable terminal deviceis allowed to be transferred in a storage unit; a determining unit whichdetermines whether the request from the portable terminal device is therequest to the external device indicated by the transfer destinationstored in the storage unit; and a communication control unit whichcontrols the communicating unit to transfer the request from theportable terminal device to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information when the determining unit determinesthat the request is the request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer readableprogram codes, performed by a computer, the program codes when executedcausing the computer to execute: controlling to store transferdestination information of an external device to which information froma portable terminal device is allowed to be transferred in a storageunit; determining whether a request from the portable terminal device isthe request to the external device indicated by the transfer destinationinformation stored in the storage unit; and controlling a communicatingunit to transfer the request from the portable terminal device to theexternal device indicated by the transfer destination information whenthe determining determines that the request is the request to theexternal device indicated by the transfer destination information.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an information processingsystem of a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an MFP provided in theinformation processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of a portable terminal deviceprovided in the information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of a server device providedin the information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the MFP provided in theinformation processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the portable terminal deviceprovided in the information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the server device provided inthe information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of registration of aprivate IP address of the server device to which a request from theportable terminal device is transferred and requesting operation fromthe portable terminal device to the server device in the informationprocessing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow in which the portableterminal device acquires address book information and a flow in whichoperation of the MFP to execute scan by a scan execution request isallowed in the information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process according to atransfer determination result by a transfer determining unit of the MFPin the information processing system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a view illustrating a database used for determining atransfer destination of the request from the portable terminal devicestored in the MFP of the information processing system of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a security level assigned to each requestfrom a portable terminal device stored in an MFP of an informationprocessing system of a second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a view illustrating an example of role check information setfor each authority stored in an MFP of an information processing systemof a third embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating an individual security level of each userstored in an MFP of an information processing system of a fourthembodiment;

FIG. 15 is a view illustrating a security level set for each authorityof a user stored in an MFP of an information processing system of afifth embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of aninformation processing system of a sixth embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of aninformation processing system of a seventh embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of aninformation processing system of an eighth embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of prohibitingoperation of an API and a user in an information processing system beinga ninth embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of changing operationof a security level in an information processing system being a tenthembodiment;

FIG. 21 is flowchart illustrating a flow of collecting responseinformation from a server device 3 in an information processing systembeing an eleventh embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a view for illustrating a synonym database stored in an MFPof an information processing system being a twelfth embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a view for illustrating a list of APIs stored in the MFP ofthe information processing system being the twelfth embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of operation to shareinformation indicating a request from a portable terminal device inwhich a problem in processing occurs among a plurality of MFPs in aninformation processing system being a thirteenth embodiment; and

FIG. 25 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of operation to shareproblem occurrence history information and a security level of each useramong MFPs in an information processing system being a fourteenthembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An information processing system being an embodiment to which thepresent invention is applied is hereinafter described.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an information processingsystem of a first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the informationprocessing system of the first embodiment includes a multifunctionperipheral (MFP) 1, a portable terminal device 2, and a server device 3.One or a plurality of MFPs 1, portable terminal devices 2, and serverdevices 3 are provided. In an example in FIG. 1, a plurality of MFPs 1is provided and one portable terminal device 2 and one server device 3are provided. The server device 3 is an example of an external device.

The MFPs 1 are connected to one another through a local area network(LAN) 4, for example. Each of the MFPs 1 is connected to the serverdevice 3 through the LAN 4. The portable terminal device 2 communicateswith any MFP 1 through direct wireless communication such as Wi-FiDirect™, for example.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the MFP 1. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the MFP 1 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a HDD 14, acommunicating unit 15, a connecting unit 16, an engine unit 17, and anoperating unit 18. The units from the CPU 11 to the operating unit 18are connected to one another through a system bus 19. The engine unit 17is an example of a processor.

The CPU 11 integrally controls operation of the MFP 1. The CPU 11realizes functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, afacsimile function, and a printer function, for example, by executing anOS and various application programs stored in the ROM 12, the HDD 14 orthe like by using the RAM 13 as a work area. The OS is an abbreviationof an “operating system”. The ROM is an abbreviation of a “read onlymemory”.

An information processing program for MFP is stored in the HDD 14. Asdescribed later, the CPU 11 operates according to the informationprocessing program for MFP, thereby enabling the operation of the MFP 1by the portable terminal device 2 while securing security. Meanwhile,the information processing program for MFP may also be stored in the ROM12 or the RAM 13. The communicating unit 15 enables wired communicationthrough the LAN 4 with the server device 3 in addition to wirelesscommunication such as the Wi-Fi Direct™ with the portable terminaldevice 2.

The engine unit 17 is hardware which performs versatile informationprocessing and processing other than communication processing forrealizing the copy function, the scanner function, the facsimilefunction, and the printer function. The engine unit 17 is provided witha scanner (image reading unit) which scans to read an image of adocument, a plotter (image forming unit) which prints on a sheetmaterial such as paper, a facsimile communicating unit which performsfacsimile communication and the like, for example. This may furtherinclude a specific option such as a finisher which sorts printed sheetmaterials and an ADF (automatic document feeder) which automaticallyfeeds the document.

The operating unit 18 is formed of a liquid crystal display device(LCD), an organic EL display device or the like having a touch panelfunction. That is to say, the operating unit 18 has an input operationfunction and a display function. A user performs input operation and thelike of a private IP address of the server device in the LAN 4 to whicha request from the portable terminal device 2 is transferred byoperating the operating unit 18. Meanwhile, in this example, it isdescribed supposing that the user inputs the private IP address of theserver device in the LAN 4 through the operating unit 18. However, it isalso possible to input a global IP address of the server device in a WANsuch as the Internet through the operating unit 18. The WAN is anabbreviation of a “wide area network”.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the portable terminaldevice 2. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the portable terminal device 2includes a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a communicating unit 24, anoperating unit 25, and a storage unit 26. The units from the CPU 21 tothe storage unit 26 are connected to one another through a system bus27.

The CPU 21 integrally controls operation of the portable terminal device2. The CPU 21 executes an OS and various application programs stored inthe ROM 22, the storage unit 26 or the like by using the RAM 23 as awork area. The storage unit 26 is a semiconductor memory in which aninformation processing program for portable terminal to be describedlater and the like is stored. As described later, the CPU 21 operatesaccording to the information processing program for portable terminal totransmit an operation command, a request to transfer desired data andthe like, for example, to the MFP 1 and the server device 3. Meanwhile,the information processing program for portable terminal may also bestored in the ROM 22 or the RAM 23. The communicating unit 24 performsthe wireless communication such as the Wi-Fi Direct™ with the MFP 1.

The operating unit 25 is formed of a liquid crystal display device(LCD), an organic EL display device or the like having a touch panelfunction. That is to say, the operating unit 25 has an input operationfunction and a display function. The user operates the operating unit 25to input the operation command, the request to transfer the desired dataand the like, for example.

FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of the server device 3. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the server device 3 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32,a RAM 33, a communicating unit 34, an operating unit 35, and a HDD 36.The units from the CPU 31 to the HDD 36 are connected to one anotherthrough a system bus 37.

The CPU 31 integrally controls operation of the server device 3. The CPU31 executes an OS and various application programs stored in the ROM 32,the HDD 36 or the like by using the RAM 33 as a work area. Aninformation processing program for server to be described later and thelike is stored in the HDD 36. As described later, the CPU 31 operatesaccording to the information processing program for server to transmitinformation requested by the MFP 1 or the portable terminal device 2.Meanwhile, the information processing program for server may also bestored in the ROM 32 or the RAM 33. The communicating unit 34 performsthe wired communication through the LAN 4 with the MFP 1. A keyboard, amouse device and the like are provided, for example, as the operatingunit 35.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating each function realizedby execution of the information processing program for MFP by the CPU 11of the MFP 1. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the CPU 11 serves as an inputprocessor 41, a communication control unit 42, a transfer destinationsetting unit 43, and a storage control unit 44 by executing theinformation processing program for MFP. The CPU 11 serves as anauthenticating unit 45, a job accepting unit 46, a job control unit 47,and a transfer determining unit 48 by executing the informationprocessing program for MFP. The transfer determining unit 48 is anexample of a determining unit.

Meanwhile, it is described supposing that the units from the inputprocessor 41 to the transfer determining unit 48 are realized bysoftware in this example. However, a part or all of the units from theinput processor 41 to the transfer determining unit 48 may be realizedby hardware.

The information processing program for MFP may also be recorded in acomputer readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM and a flexible disk(FD) as a file in an installable format or an executable format to beprovided. The information processing program for MFP may also berecorded in the computer readable recording medium such as a CD-R, aDVD, a Blu-ray Disk™, and a semiconductor memory to be provided. The DVDis an abbreviation of a “digital versatile disk”. The informationprocessing program for MFP may also be provided through a network suchas the Internet. The MFP 1 may also download the information processingprogram for MFP through the network and install the same in the HDD 14and the like to execute. It is also possible to preinstall theinformation processing program for MFP in the ROM 12 and the like in theMFP 1 to provide.

The input processor 41 requests setting of transfer destinationinformation to be described later and the like. The communicationcontrol unit 42 controls the communicating unit such as a networkinterface card (NIC), for example, to communicate a request and aresponse to the portable terminal device 2 and the server device 3. Thetransfer destination setting unit 43 sets the transfer destinationinformation by an instruction from an authorized user authenticated byuser authentication.

The storage control unit 44 controls to store an address of the serverdevice 3 which becomes a transfer destination and information fordetermining whether it is possible to transfer in the HDD 14 and thelike. The storage control unit 44 controls to store address bookinformation of the user authentication and security level informationfor each log-in user in the HDD 14 and the like. The storage controlunit 44 stores table information of a request transfer destination, akeyword of the request transfer destination, a value of security levelsetting, security check information for each request, information ofprohibited data and the like in the HDD 14.

The authenticating unit 45 performs a user authenticating process byusing a user account input from the portable terminal device 2. The jobaccepting unit 46 accepts an execution request of setting and executionof a job processed in the MFP 1 such as reading and printing, display ofa device state and the like. The job control unit 47 sets and executes ajob request of the reading and printing from the job accepting unit 46.The transfer determining unit 48 determines whether it is possible tocommunicate the request from the portable terminal device 2 to theserver device 3, to process the same by the MFP 1, and to accept therequest.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram illustrating each function realizedby execution of the information processing program for portable terminalby the CPU 21 of the portable terminal device 2. As illustrated in FIG.6, the CPU 21 serves as an input processor 51, a communication controlunit 52, and a display control unit 53 by executing the informationprocessing program for portable terminal.

Meanwhile, it is described supposing that the units from the inputprocessor 51 to the display control unit 53 are realized by software inthis example. However, a part or all of the units from the inputprocessor 51 to the display control unit 53 may be realized by hardware.

The information processing program for portable terminal may also berecorded in the computer readable recording medium such as the CD-ROMand the flexible disk (FD) as the file in the installable format orexecutable format to be provided. The information processing program forportable terminal may also be recorded in the computer readablerecording medium such as the CD-R, the DVD, the Blu-ray Disk™ and thesemiconductor memory to be provided. The DVD is an abbreviation of a“digital versatile disk”. The information processing program forportable terminal may also be provided through the network such as theInternet. The portable terminal device 2 may also download theinformation processing program for portable terminal through the networkand install the same in the storage unit 26 and the like to execute. Itis also possible to preinstall the information processing program forportable terminal in the ROM 12 and the like in the MFP 1 to provide.

The input processor 51 inputs a predetermined request to the MFP 1 andthe server device 3 on the portable terminal device 2. The communicationcontrol unit 52 controls the communicating unit 24 to communicate therequest and the response to the MFP 1. The display control unit 53displays a screen on the portable terminal device 2.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating each function realizedby execution of the information processing program for server by the CPU31 of the server device 3. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the CPU 31 servesas a communication control unit 55 and a storage control unit 56 byexecuting the information processing program for server.

Meanwhile, it is described supposing that the communication control unit55 and the storage control unit 56 are realized by software in thisexample. However, a part or all of the communication control unit 55 andthe storage control unit 56 may also be realized by hardware.

The information processing program for server may also be recorded inthe computer readable recording medium such as the CD-ROM and theflexible disk (FD) as the file in the installable format or theexecutable format to be provided. The information processing program forserver may also be recorded in the computer readable recording mediumsuch as the CD-R, the DVD, the Blu-ray Disk™, and the semiconductormemory to be provided. The DVD is an abbreviation of a “digitalversatile disk”. The information processing program for server may alsobe provided through the network such as the Internet. The server device3 may also download the information processing program for serverthrough the network and install the same in the storage unit 26 and thelike to execute. It is also possible to preinstall the informationprocessing program for server in the ROM 12 and the like in the serverdevice 3 to provide.

The communication control unit 55 controls the communicating unit suchas the network interface card (NIC), for example, to communicate therequest and the response with the MFP 1. The storage control unit 56controls writing and reading of the information in and from the HDD 36and the like.

Such information processing system has a communication environment inwhich the portable terminal device 2 is connected to the MFP 1 throughthe wireless communication and accesses an in-house server device 3through the MFP 1. The portable terminal device 2 cannot be connected toan in-house LAN 4 and this communicates wirelessly with the MFP 1through the WiFi Direct™, for example.

Information of an address book and the like is stored in the in-houseserver device 3. When the user of the portable terminal device 2 wantsto use the address book, the user accesses the in-house server device 3from the portable terminal device 2 through the MFP 1. At that time, theportable terminal device 2 is allowed to access only the server devicewhich becomes a connecting destination the address of which is stored inthe MFP 1. According to this, it is possible to prevent disadvantage ofillegal access from the portable terminal device 2 to another in-houseserver device.

The request to the MFP 1 such as execution of the scanner, for example,the request to the server device 3, and an illegal request aredetermined and the request is appropriately transferred or is stopped.According to this, it is possible to satisfy both the setting andexecution of the job by the MFP 1 and prevention of the illegal accessto the server device 3.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of registration of theprivate IP address of the server device 3 to which the request from theportable terminal device 2 is transferred and requesting operation fromthe portable terminal device 2 to the server device 3. At step S1 inFIG. 8, an instruction to set the private IP address (10.12.33.44) inthe LAN 4 of a desired server device 3 to which the request istransferred is acquired through the input processor 41 of the MFP 1.Meanwhile, it is also possible that the server device 3 or the portableterminal device 2 indicates the private IP address of the desired serverdevice 3.

The transfer destination information being the private IP address of thedesired server device 3 is transferred from the communication controlunit 42 to the transfer destination setting unit 43 (step S2). When thetransfer destination information is transferred, the transferdestination setting unit 43 communicates with the authenticating unit 45to determine whether the user who logs in or a one-shot authenticateduser indicated through the communicating unit 15 is an administrator(steps S3 and S4). When the user who logs in or the one-shotauthenticated user is authenticated as the administrator, the transferdestination setting unit 43 transfers the transferred transferdestination information to the storage control unit 44 and the storagecontrol unit 44 controls to store the transfer destination informationin the HDD 14 and the like (step S5). It is possible to limit the accessof the portable terminal device 2 only to the server device 3 desired bythe administrator by this setting.

On the other hand, when the user who logs in or the one-shotauthenticated user is not authenticated as the administrator, an erroroccurs and the transfer destination setting unit 43 does not set thetransfer destination information. The transfer destination setting unit43 notifies the user that the transfer destination information is set orthis is not set (steps S6 and S7).

When the transfer destination information of the desired server device 3indicating the transfer destination of the request is registered, theuser of the portable terminal device 2 may transmit a desired request.That is to say, the request is transmitted from the portable terminaldevice 2 to the MFP 1 through the input processor 51 and thecommunicating unit 24 controlled by the communication control unit 52 ofthe portable terminal device 2 (steps S8 and S9). The request from theportable terminal device 2 is transferred from the communication controlunit 42 to the transfer determining unit 48 of the MFP 1 (step S10).

The transfer determining unit 48 acquires the transfer destinationinformation stored in the HDD 14 and the like in advance through thestorage control unit 44 (steps S11 and S12) and transfers the same tothe communication control unit 42 (step S13). The communication controlunit 42 controls the communicating unit 15 to transmit the request fromthe portable terminal device 2 to the server device 3 having the privateIP address indicated by the transfer destination information (step S14).According to this, it is possible to limit the access of the portableterminal device 2 only to the server device 3 desired by theadministrator (only to the server device 3 having the private IP addressregistered in advance).

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow in which the portableterminal device acquires the address book information and a flow inwhich operation of the MFP 1 to execute scan by a scan execution requestis allowed. When an address book acquisition request is issued byoperation of the operating unit 25 of the portable terminal device 2,the address book acquisition request is transmitted from the inputprocessor 51 to the MFP 1 through the communicating unit 24 controlledby the communication control unit 52 (steps S21 and S22). The MFP 1receives the address book acquisition request from the portable terminaldevice 2 by the communicating unit 15 controlled by the communicationcontrol unit 42 and transfers the same to the transfer determining unit48 (step S23).

The transfer determining unit 48 performs a transfer destinationdetermining process to be described later (step S24). As a result of thedetermination, when the request is the request to the server device 3,the transfer determining unit 48 acquires the transfer destinationinformation indicating the server device which becomes the transferdestination from the storage control unit 44 (steps S25 and S26). Thecommunication control unit 42 controls the communicating unit 15 totransfer the address book acquisition request to the server deviceindicated by the transfer destination information (steps S27 to S29).

The server device 3 transmits the address book information to the MFP 1in response to the address book acquisition request (step S29). The MFP1 acquires the address book from the server device 3 by thecommunicating unit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42(step S30). Then, the transfer determining unit 48 transmits theacquired address book to the portable terminal device 2 through thecommunicating unit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42(steps S31 and S32).

The portable terminal device 2 acquires the address book informationtransmitted from the MFP 1 by the communicating unit 24 controlled bythe communication control unit 52 and the display control unit 53displays the same on the operating unit 25 integrated with a displayunit (steps S33 and S34)

When the user of the portable terminal device 2 issues the scanexecution request by operating the operating unit 25, the scan executionrequest is transmitted from the input processor 51 to the MFP 1 throughthe communicating unit 24 controlled by the communication control unit52 (steps S35 and S36). The MFP 1 receives the scan execution requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 by the communicating unit 15controlled by the communication control unit 42 and transfers the sameto the transfer determining unit 48 (step S37).

The transfer determining unit 48 performs the transfer destinationdetermining process to be described later (step S38). As a result of thedetermination, when the request is the request to the MFP 1, thetransfer determining unit 48 transfers the scan execution request to thejob accepting unit 46 (step S39). The job accepting unit 46 transfersthe scan execution request to the job control unit 47 (step S40).According to this, the MFP 1 executes the scan in response to the scanexecution request from the portable terminal device 2 (step S41).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process according to atransfer determination result by the transfer determining unit 48 of theMFP 1. The communication control unit 42 of the MFP 1 accepts therequest from the portable terminal device 2 through the communicatingunit 15 through the wireless communication such as the WiFi Direct™ andtransfers the same to the transfer determining unit 48 (step S51). Thetransfer determining unit 48 performs the transfer destinationdetermining process to be described later at step S52. When thedetermination result is the request to the MFP 1, the request istransferred to the job accepting unit 46 in the MFP 1 and the jobcontrol unit 47 performs a process to set the job and start the jobcorresponding to the request at step S53.

On the other hand, when the transfer determination result is the requestto the server device 3, the address of the server device 3 set as thetransfer destination (the above-described transfer destinationinformation) is acquired at step S54. Then, at step S56, the requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 is transferred to the server device3 indicated by the transfer destination information.

On the other hand, when the transfer determination result is the illegalrequest, the CPU 11 discards the request from the portable terminaldevice 2 at step S55. Then, the CPU 11 displays an error display on theoperating unit 18 integrated with the display unit.

FIG. 11 illustrates a database used for determining the transferdestination of the request from the portable terminal device 2. Thedatabase in which an API (application programming interface) requestedby the portable terminal device 2 and the device which becomes adestination of the API (MFP 1 or server device 3) are associated witheach other is stored in the HDD 14 of the MFP 1. The transferdetermining unit 48 checks the request from the portable terminal device2 against the database. Then, the transfer determining unit 48 performstransfer determination by detecting the transfer destinationcorresponding to the request from the portable terminal device 2.

When the request from the portable terminal device 2 is the API of“GET/mfp/scan/bb_state”, for example, the transfer determining unit 48determines the same as the request to the MFP 1. When the request fromthe portable terminal device 2 is the API of “GET/server/address”, forexample, the transfer determining unit 48 determines the same as therequest to the server device 3. Meanwhile, when the request is that withno corresponding transfer destination, the transfer determining unit 48determines the same as the illegal request.

In the description above, the MFP 1 includes the database in the HDD 14.However, it is also possible to determine the transfer destination bydetecting a keyword in the API of the request from the portable terminaldevice 2 also when there is no database. That is to say, the API of therequest from the portable terminal device 2 includes the keywordindicating the transfer destination of the request such as “mfp” or“server” as illustrated in FIG. 11. The transfer determining unit 48detects such keyword from the API to determine the transfer destinationof the request. For example, when the API includes the keyword of“mfp/”, this is determined to be the request to the MFP 1. When the APIincludes the keyword of “server/”, this is determined to be the requestto the server device 3. Meanwhile, a list of the keywords may be storedin the storage unit such as the HDD 14. When the keyword cannot bedetected from the API, the transfer determining unit 48 determines thatthe request is illegal.

If authentication information transmitted from the portable terminaldevice 2 may be directly transmitted to the server device 3 through theMFP 1, the authentication information including a malicious script isalso directly transmitted to the server device 3. If the portableterminal device 2 may substantially directly access the server device 3although there is intermediation by the MFP 1, it becomes possible tointentionally stop the operation of the server device 3 by continuouslytransmitting a lot of requests to the server device 3.

However, the information processing system of the first embodimentregisters the server device 3 to which the request from the portableterminal device 2 is transferred in the MFP 1 in advance. When there isthe request from the portable terminal device 2, the MFP 1 transfers therequest only to the server device 3 registered in advance. According tothis, it is possible to limit the communication of the portable terminaldevice 2 only to the server device 3 registered in advance and preventthe disadvantage of the illegal access from the portable terminal device2 to another server device.

The information processing system of the first embodiment determines therequest to the MFP 1 such as the execution of the scanner, for example,and the illegal request to the server device 3 and appropriatelytransfers the request or stops transferring the request. According tothis, it is possible to satisfy both the setting and execution of thejob of the MFP 1 and the prevention of the illegal access to the serverdevice 3. Therefore, the information processing system of the firstembodiment may enable the communication between the portable terminaldevice 2 and the server device 3 connected to the LAN 4 through the MFP1 connected to the LAN 4 while securing security of the LAN 4.

Second Embodiment

An information processing system being a second embodiment is nextdescribed. In the information processing system of the secondembodiment, a security level is added to each request from a portableterminal device 2. The security level of the request allowed to betransferred to a server device 3 is specified through an operating unit18 of an MFP 1. Only the request with the security level not lower thanthe security level specified for the server device 3 is transferred tothe server device 3. According to this, it is possible to improve thesecurity level of the information processing system.

Specifically, the security level (security check information) is addedto each request transmitted from the portable terminal device 2 to theMFP 1 as illustrated in FIG. 12. A predetermined level out of levels 1to 3 is assigned to each request as the security level. The levels ofsecurity are level 1, level 2, and level 3 from the highest one indescending order.

In a case of the information processing system of the second embodiment,it is possible to specify the security level of the request allowed tobe transferred to the server device 3 for each server device 3 throughthe operating unit 18 of the MFP 1. Specified level informationindicating the security level of the request allowed to be transferredto the server device 3 is stored in a HDD 14 of the MFP 1. The securitylevel may also be specified from the portable terminal device 2 or adevice having a communication function such as a personal computerdevice.

When the request is transferred from the portable terminal device 2, atransfer determining unit 48 of the MFP 1 refers to the security checkinformation stored in the HDD 14 to determine the security level of therequest transferred from the portable terminal device 2. The transferdetermining unit 48 refers to the specified level information in the HDD14 to determine the security level of the request allowed to betransferred to the server device 3 to which the request is transferred.When the transfer determining unit 48 determines that the security ofthe request transferred from the portable terminal device 2 is not lowerthan the security level of the request allowed to be transferred to theserver device 3, a communication control unit 42 transfers the requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 to the server device 3.

For example, when the security level of the request allowed to betransferred to the server device 3 is “1” and the security level of therequest transferred from the portable terminal device 2 is “1”, thetransfer determining unit 48 determines that the request from theportable terminal device 2 may be transferred to the server device 3.Also when the security level of the request allowed to be transferred tothe server device 3 is “2” and the security level of the requesttransferred from the portable terminal device 2 is “2” or “1”, thetransfer determining unit 48 determines that the request from theportable terminal device 2 may be transferred to the server device 3.

On the other hand, when the security level of the request allowed to betransferred to the server device 3 is “1” and the security level of therequest transferred from the portable terminal device 2 is “2”, thetransfer determining unit 48 determines that the request from theportable terminal device 2 cannot be transferred to the server device 3.

The communication control unit 42 is notified of a determination resultof the transfer determining unit 48. When the communication control unit42 is notified of the determination result indicating that the requestmay be transferred from the transfer determining unit 48, this controlsa communicating unit 15 to transfer the request from the portableterminal device 2 to the server device 3. When this is notified of thedetermination result indicating that the request cannot be transferredfrom the transfer determining unit 48, the transfer of the request fromthe portable terminal device 2 to the server device 3 is prohibited.When the communication control unit 42 is notified of the determinationresult indicating that the request cannot be transferred from thetransfer determining unit 48, this discards the request from theportable terminal device 2. The communication control unit 42 transmitsa warning text including an error message indicating that the request isillegal to the portable terminal device 2 through the communicating unit15.

In this manner, the information processing system of the secondembodiment transfers only the request with the security level not lowerthan the security level specified for the server device 3 to the serverdevice 3. According to this, it is possible to improve the securitylevel of the information processing system and acquire an effect similarto that of the above-described embodiment.

Third Embodiment

An information processing system being a third embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the third embodimentstores role check information indicating whether each request may betransferred for each authority (role) of a user of a portable terminaldevice 2 who logs in such as a general user, a user administrator, or adevice administrator, for example, in a storage unit such as a HDD 14 ofan MFP 1. Then, a transfer determining unit 48 transfers only therequest allowed for the role to a server device 3 indicated by transferdestination information described above.

Specifically, FIG. 13 is a view illustrating an example of the rolecheck information set for each role. A circle in FIG. 13 indicates thatthe request may be transferred. A cross mark in FIG. 13 indicates thatthe request cannot be transferred (transfer prohibited). In a case ofthe example illustrated in FIG. 13, the device administrator is allowedto transfer all the requests. When the role of the request received fromthe portable terminal device 2 is the device administrator, the transferdetermining unit 48 determines that all the requests may be transferred.

In the example in FIG. 13, when the role of the request received fromthe portable terminal device 2 is the user administrator, the transferdetermining unit 48 determines that an address book acquisition request,a state acquisition request, an address sender write request, and anaddress user name write request may be transferred. In the example inFIG. 13, when the role of the request received from the portableterminal device 2 is the general user, the transfer determining unit 48determines that the request other than the address book acquisitionrequest and the state acquisition request cannot be transferred. Acommunication control unit 42 transfers only the request allowed for therole of the user of the portable terminal device 2 to the server device3 through a communicating unit 15.

Such information processing system of the third embodiment may transferonly the request allowed for the role to the server device 3. Accordingto this, it is possible to improve security of the informationprocessing system and acquire an effect similar to that of theabove-described embodiments.

Fourth Embodiment

An information processing system being a fourth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the fourth embodimentassigns a security level to each user who logs in and stores the same ina storage unit such as a HDD 14 of an MFP 1. Then, this checks the sameagainst the security level of each request described with reference toFIG. 12 and transfers only the request with the security level nothigher than the security level of the user to a server device 3.

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating user level check information being a listof the security levels of the users stored in the HDD 14. The levels ofsecurity are level 1, level 2, and level 3 from the highest one indescending order. In a case of the example illustrated in FIG. 14, thesecurity level information of “1” is assigned to the user whose username is “suzuki”. An authenticating unit 45 illustrated in FIG. 5 refersto the user level check information stored in the HDD 14 to detect thesecurity level of the user and notifies a transfer determining unit 48of the same when performing user authentication described above.

The transfer determining unit 48 determines that the user to which thesecurity level information of “1” is assigned may transfer the requestto which the security check information of “1” is assigned describedwith reference to FIG. 12. The security level information of “2” isassigned to the user whose user name is “katayama”. The transferdetermining unit 48 determines that the user to which the security levelinformation of “2” is assigned may transfer the request to which thesecurity check information of “2” “or “3” is assigned described withreference to FIG. 12. A communication control unit 42 transfers only therequest determined to be transferable by the transfer determining unit48 to the server device 3 through a communicating unit 15.

Such information processing system of the fourth embodiment may transferonly the request matching an individual security level of the user tothe server device 3. According to this, it is possible to improvesecurity of the information processing system and acquire an effectsimilar to that of the above-described embodiments.

Fifth Embodiment

An information processing system being a fifth embodiment is nextdescribed. Although the security level is set for each user in theabove-described fourth embodiment, the security level is set for eachrole of the user (general user, user administrator, or deviceadministrator) in the fifth embodiment.

In a case of the information processing system of the fifth embodiment,security check information described with reference to FIG. 12 is storedin a storage unit such as a HDD 14 of an MFP 1. Role level checkinformation in which the security level for each request is set for eachrole of the user (general user, user administrator, or deviceadministrator) is stored as illustrated in FIG. 15 in the storage unitsuch as the HDD 14. The levels of security are level 1, level 2, andlevel 3 from the highest one in descending order.

In a case of the example illustrated in FIG. 15, a transfer determiningunit 48 determines that the request to which the security level of “1”is assigned of the security check information described with referenceto FIG. 12 may be transferred for the role of the device administratorto which the security level of “1” is assigned. This determines that therequest to which the security level of “2” or “3” is assigned of thesecurity check information described with reference to FIG. 12 may betransferred for the role of the user administrator to which the securitylevel information of “2” is assigned. A communication control unit 42transfers only the request determined to be transferable by the transferdetermining unit 48 to the server device 3 through a communicating unit15.

Such information processing system of the fifth embodiment may transferonly the request with the security level allowed for each role to theserver device 3. According to this, it is possible to improve securityof the information processing system and acquire an effect similar tothat of the above-described embodiments.

Sixth Embodiment

An information processing system being a sixth embodiment is nextdescribed. In a case of the information processing system of the firstembodiment described above, the request from the portable terminaldevice 2 is classified as any one of the request to the MFP 1, therequest to the server device 3, and the illegal request as describedwith reference to FIG. 10. However, when the request from the portableterminal device 2 to the MFP 1 is the request for a function orinformation which the MFP 1 does not have, the request from the portableterminal device 2 is processed with difficulty. Therefore, theinformation processing system of the sixth embodiment determines whetherthe request may be processed by the MFP 1 when there is the request fromthe portable terminal device 2 to the MFP 1. When the MFP 1 hasdifficulty in processing the request, the request is processed by anexternal device such as the server device 3 registered in advancecorresponding to the portable terminal device.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of theinformation processing system of the sixth embodiment. A CPU 11 of theMFP 1 executes an information processing program for MFP stored in a HDD14. According to this, each process of the flowchart illustrated in FIG.16 is executed. In each process of the flowchart in FIG. 16, steps S61to S65 correspond to steps S51 to S55 of the flowchart in FIG. 10.Please refer to the description of FIG. 10 for more detail.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, in a case of the information processingsystem of the sixth embodiment, when a transfer determining unit 48 ofthe MFP 1 determines that the request from the portable terminal device2 is the request to the MFP 1 (primary determination at step S62), thetransfer determining unit 48 performs secondary determination at stepS66. In the secondary determination, the transfer determining unit 48determines whether the request from the portable terminal device 2 maybe processed by the MFP 1 or may be processed by another device such asthe server device 3.

As an example, also when the portable terminal device 2 requests the MFP1 which does not have an address book function to acquire a destinationin an address book, the request is determined to be the request to theMFP 1 by the transfer determining unit 48 in the primary transferdetermination at step S62. In this case, the transfer determining unit48 of the MFP 1 performs the secondary determination at step S66 todetermine whether the request from the portable terminal device 2 may beprocessed by the MFP 1 or may be processed by another device such as theserver device 3.

When the MFP 1 has the address book function, the procedure shifts tostep S67. A job accepting unit 46 accepts the request to acquire thedestination in the address book from the portable terminal device 2 anda job control unit 47 transfers information of the address book storedin the HDD 14 and the like of the MFP 1 to the portable terminal device2 at step S67.

On the other hand, when the MFP 1 does not have the address bookfunction, the procedure shifts to step S68. As an example, when theinformation of the address book is stored in a HDD 36 of the serverdevice 3 registered as a transfer destination of the request of theportable terminal device 2, a communication control unit 42 of the MFP 1controls a communicating unit 15 to acquire transfer destinationinformation of the server device 3 registered as the transferdestination of the request of the portable terminal device 2 from atransfer destination setting unit 43 at step S68. Then, thecommunication control unit 42 controls the communicating unit 15 totransfer the request to acquire the destination in the address book fromthe portable terminal device 2 to the server device 3 indicated by theacquired transfer destination information at step S69. According tothis, it is possible to transfer the information of the address bookwhich is provided by the MFP 1 with difficulty from the server device 3indicated by the transfer destination information to the portableterminal device 2.

Meanwhile, when the request from the portable terminal device 2 isprocessed with difficulty by the MFP 1 and by the server device 3registered as the transfer destination of the request of the portableterminal device 2, an error display is displayed on the portableterminal device 2.

It is also possible to acquire information of the function which eachserver device 3 has from each server device 3 registered as the transferdestination of the request from the portable terminal device 2 tocompare and determine the server device 3 to which the request istransferred according to a comparison result as the secondary transferdetermination. It is also possible to select the server device 3 whichmay process the request by a trial-and-error method on each serverdevice to transfer the request from the portable terminal device 2.

Such information processing system of the sixth embodiment may processthe request from the portable terminal device 2 by using the externaldevice such as the server device 3 which may process the request whenthe request is processed by the MFP 1 with difficulty, and acquire thesame effect as that of the above-described embodiments.

Seventh Embodiment

An information processing system being a seventh embodiment is nextdescribed. In a case of the information processing system of the firstembodiment described above, the request from the portable terminaldevice 2 is classified as any one of the request to the MFP 1, therequest to the server device 3, and the illegal request as describedwith reference to FIG. 10. The information processing system of theseventh embodiment may select an external device which may process therequest out of the external devices such as the server device 3 set inadvance corresponding to the portable terminal device 2 and process therequest by both the MFP 1 and the external device also when the requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 may be processed by the MFP 1.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of theinformation processing system of the seventh embodiment. A CPU 11 of theMFP 1 executes an information processing program for MFP stored in a HDD14. According to this, each process of the flowchart illustrated in FIG.17 is executed. In each process of the flowchart in FIG. 17, steps S71to S75 correspond to steps S51 to S55 of the flowchart in FIG. 10.Please refer to the description of FIG. 10 for more detail.

As illustrated in FIG. 17, in a case of the information processingsystem of the seventh embodiment, when a transfer determining unit 48 ofthe MFP 1 determines that the request from the portable terminal device2 is the request to the MFP 1 (primary determination at step S72), thetransfer determining unit 48 performs secondary determination at stepS76. In the secondary determination, the transfer determining unit 48determines whether the request from the portable terminal device 2 maybe processed by the MFP 1 or may be processed by another device such asthe server device 3.

When the request is determined to be processed by the MFP 1 withdifficulty, as in the above-described sixth embodiment, the externaldevice registered in advance such as the server device 3 which mayprocess the request is selected and the request is processed at stepsS78 to S80.

On the other hand, when the request is determined to be processable bythe MFP 1, a job accepting unit 46 and a job control unit 47 processes ajob corresponding to the request at step S77.

The transfer determining unit 48 determines the external device such asthe server device 3 which may process the request together with theprocess of the job. The transfer determining unit 48 selects theexternal device which may process the request out of the externaldevices such as the server device 3 registered in advance for theportable terminal device 2 which transfers the request (step S78). Theexternal device which may process the request may also be selected by atrial-and-error selecting method. Alternatively, it is also possible toaccumulate a history of request results in the HDD 14 and the like tolearn and determine the external device which may process for eachrequest by using a learn result.

At step S79, the request is transferred to the external device selectedin this manner. At step S80, the selected external device processes therequest of the portable terminal device 2 together with the MFP 1.

Such information processing system of the seventh embodiment may processthe request by both the MFP 1 and the external device, so that it ispossible to process a complicated request and rapidly process therequest and acquire the same effect as that of the above-describedembodiments.

Eighth Embodiment

An information processing system being an eighth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the eighth embodimentclassifies a request from a portable terminal device 2 into categoriesfrom a viewpoint of presence of a security problem. The request istransferred to a server device 3 registered in advance as a transferdestination of the portable terminal device 2 or the transfer of therequest is prohibited according to a classification result.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of theinformation processing system of the eighth embodiment. When the requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 is received by a communicating unit15 controlled by a communication control unit 42 of an MFP 1 at stepS81, a transfer destination setting unit 43 performs a categoryclassifying process of the request at step S82. The transfer destinationsetting unit 43 is an example of a classifying unit. For example, thetransfer destination setting unit 43 classifies the request from theportable terminal device 2 into the categories of an informationacquiring type, a read executing type, a transmission executing type, aset value changing type, a deleting type, or a file operating type.

When the request from the portable terminal device 2 falls under acategory with a small security problem such as the information acquiringtype or the read executing type, for example, by the classifyingprocess, the procedure shifts to step S84. In this case, a transferringprocess of the request to the server device or an executing process ofthe request by the MFP 1 described at steps S53 to S56 in FIG. 10 isperformed.

On the other hand, when the request from the portable terminal device 2falls under a category with a large security problem such as thetransmission executing type, the set value changing type, the deletingtype, or the file operating type, for example, the procedure shifts tostep S85. In this case, the transfer of the request is prohibited and anerror message and the like is transmitted from the MFP 1 to the portableterminal device 2. Then, the error message is displayed on an operatingunit 18 also serving as a display unit by a display control unit 53 ofthe portable terminal device 2.

In this manner, the information processing system of the eighthembodiment classifies the request from the portable terminal device 2into the categories and transfers the request which falls under thecategory with the small security problem to an external deviceregistered in advance such as the server device 3. The transfer of therequest which falls under the category with the large security problemis prohibited and the error message is transmitted to the portableterminal device 2 to be displayed. According to this, it is possible tofurther improve security of the information processing system andacquire an effect similar to that of the above-described embodiments.

Ninth Embodiment

An information processing system being a ninth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the ninth embodimentregisters an API of a request transfer of which is prohibited as aprohibited API and register a user who requests the prohibited API(illegal request) as a prohibited user, thereby limiting usage of theinformation processing system.

FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of operation ofprohibiting the API and the user in the information processing systembeing the ninth embodiment. First, suppose that a file upload request(POST/server/file_upload) being the API to save desired data in a serverdevice 3 is transmitted from a portable terminal device 2 to an MFP 1 atsteps S91 and S92 in FIG. 19. The file upload request is transferred toa transfer determining unit 48 at step S93. The transfer determiningunit 48 performs a transfer destination determining process describedabove at step S94 and acquires transfer destination information of theserver device 3 registered in advance corresponding to the portableterminal device 2 (steps S95 and S96). The transfer determining unit 48requests a communication control unit 42 to transfer the file uploadrequest to the server device 3 being a transfer determination result atstep S97.

The communication control unit 42 controls a communicating unit 15 totransfer the file upload request to the server device 3 being thetransfer determination result at step S98. At that time, a storagecontrol unit 56 of the server device 3 checks whether an illegal programsuch as a computer virus is included in a file of the file uploadrequest which is transferred (file to be stored in a HDD 36 and thelike). A communication control unit 55 of the server device 3 controls acommunicating unit 34 to transmit such a check result to the MFP 1 atstep S99.

The MFP 1 receives the check result from the server device 3 by thecommunicating unit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42and transfers the check result to the transfer determining unit 48 atstep S100. The transfer determining unit 48 transmits security NGinformation to the communication control unit 42 at step S101 when thecheck result from the server device 3 indicates that the illegal programis included in the file of which upload is requested (illegal requestinformation).

When the communication control unit 42 receives the security NGinformation, this requests a storage control unit 44 to add prohibiteddata at step S102. The communication control unit 42 controls thecommunicating unit 15 to transmit the received security NG informationto the portable terminal device 2 at step S103.

A communication control unit 52 of the portable terminal device 2transfers the security NG information to a display control unit 53 atstep S104. The display control unit 53 which receives the security NGinformation displays a warning message on an operating unit 25 whichalso serves as a display unit at step S105.

In contrast, the storage control unit 44 of the MFP 1 which receives therequest to add the prohibited data registers the API of the file uploadrequest in the HDD 14 as the prohibited API (transfer prohibitedrequest). When the storage control unit 44 receives the request to addthe prohibited data, this registers the user of the portable terminaldevice 2 from which the file upload request is transmitted in the HDD 14as the prohibited user. The communication control unit 42 discards therequest registered as the prohibited API from the next time as theprohibited API. The request of the user registered as the prohibiteduser is also discarded as the prohibited API and the usage of theinformation processing system is prohibited.

In this manner, when the illegal program is included in the request inthe server device 3 to which the request is transferred, the informationprocessing system being the ninth embodiment registers the API of therequest as the prohibited API and registers the user who transmits therequest as the prohibited user. From the next time, the requestregistered as the prohibited API is discarded and the usage of theinformation processing system by the user registered as the prohibiteduser is prohibited. According to this, it is possible to further enhancesecurity of the information processing system and acquire an effectsimilar to that of the above-described embodiments.

Tenth Embodiment

An information processing system being a tenth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the tenth embodimentchanges an individual security level of a user of a portable terminaldevice 2 to a punitive low security level when a request transferredfrom the portable terminal device 2 to an external device such as aserver device is an illegal request including an illegal program orillegal data.

FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of operation ofchanging the security level in the information processing system beingthe tenth embodiment. First, suppose that a file upload request(POST/server/file_upload) being an API to save desired data in a serverdevice 3 is transmitted from the portable terminal device 2 to an MFP 1at steps S111 and S112 in FIG. 20. The file upload request istransferred to a transfer determining unit 48 at step S113. The transferdetermining unit 48 performs a transfer destination determining processdescribed above at step S114 and acquires transfer destinationinformation of the server device 3 registered in advance correspondingto the portable terminal device 2 (steps S115 and S116). The transferdetermining unit 48 requests a communication control unit 42 to transferthe file upload request to the server device 3 being a transferdetermination result at step S117.

The communication control unit 42 controls a communicating unit 15 totransfer the file upload request to the server device 3 being thetransfer determination result at step S118. At that time, a storagecontrol unit 56 of the server device 3 checks whether an illegal programsuch as a computer virus is included in a file of the file uploadrequest which is transferred (file to be stored in a HDD 36 and thelike). A communication control unit 55 of the server device 3 controls acommunicating unit 34 to transmit such a check result to the MFP 1 atstep S119.

The MFP 1 receives the check result from the server device 3 by thecommunicating unit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42and transfers the same to the transfer determining unit 48 at step S120.The transfer determining unit 48 transmits security NG information tothe communication control unit 42 at step S121 when the check resultfrom the server device 3 indicates that the illegal program is includedin the file of which upload is requested (illegal request information).

When the communication control unit 42 receives the security NGinformation, this requests a transfer destination setting unit 43 tochange security level setting at step S122. The request to change thesecurity level setting is transferred from the transfer destinationsetting unit 43 to a storage control unit 44 at step S123. The storagecontrol unit 44 which receives the request to change the security levelsetting performs a changing process to downgrade the security level ofthe user of the portable terminal device 2 who transmits the uploadrequest including the illegal program and the like out of the securitylevels of the users described with reference to FIG. 14 to the nextsecurity level below.

That is to say, the security level of the user whose security level is“2” is downgraded to “3”. The security level of the user whose securitylevel is “1” is downgraded to “2”. Meanwhile, this is an example inwhich the security level is downgraded by one level by one transmissionof the illegal request. It is also possible to downgrade the securitylevel by two or more levels by one transmission of the illegal request.It is also possible to register the user with the security level changedto the lowest security level who still acts illegal as a prohibited userto prohibit usage of the information processing system as described inthe ninth embodiment.

When the changing process of the security level is completed, acompletion notification indicating that the changing process of thesecurity level is completed is transmitted from the storage control unit44 to the communication control unit 42 through the transfer destinationsetting unit 43 (steps S124 and S125). The communication control unit 42which receives the completion notification through the communicatingunit 15 controls the communicating unit 15 to transmit the security NGinformation received from the transfer determining unit 48 at step S121to the portable terminal device 2 (step S126).

A communication control unit 52 of the portable terminal device 2transfers the security NG information received from the MFP 1 to adisplay control unit 53 at step S127. The display control unit 53 whichreceives the security NG information displays a warning message on anoperating unit 25 which also serves as a display unit at step S128.

In this manner, when the illegal program and the like is included in therequest in the server device 3 to which the request is transferred, theinformation processing system being the tenth embodiment performs thechanging process to downgrade the individual security level of the user.According to this, it is possible to inhibit illegality and acquire aneffect similar to that of the above-described embodiments.

Eleventh Embodiment

An information processing system being an eleventh embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the eleventh embodimentcollects response information indicating whether a request transferredfrom a portable terminal device 2 to a server device 3 is processedsuccessfully or not by an MFP 1. Then, this selects the server device 3which succeeds in processing to transfer the request from the portableterminal device 2 from the next time.

FIG. 21 is flowchart illustrating a flow of collecting the responseinformation from the server device 3 in the information processingsystem being the eleventh embodiment. Processes at steps S131 to S136 ofthe flowchart in FIG. 21 correspond to steps S51 to S56 of the flowchartin FIG. 10, respectively. Please refer to the description of theflowchart in FIG. 10 for more detail.

In the flowchart in FIG. 21, steps S137 to S141 are an acquiring routineof the response information from the server device 3. That is to say,when the request from the portable terminal device 2 is determined to bethe request to the MFP 1 by primary transfer determination illustratedat step S132, the procedure shifts to step S133. At step S133, a jobaccepting unit 46 and a job control unit 47 execute the processcorresponding to the request.

Next, the procedure shifts to step S137 and a transfer determining unit48 acquires transfer destination information of an external device suchas the server device 3 registered in advance corresponding to theportable terminal device 2. Next, the transfer determining unit 48determines whether to perform collection of the response information(result determination) for the server device 3 indicated by the transferdestination information at step S139. In a case of combination of therequest and the server device 3 the result of which is alreadydetermined, the transfer determining unit 48 determines that the resultdetermination is not performed (NG at step S139). In this case, theprocedure of the flowchart in FIG. 21 is finished.

On the other hand, when the result determination for the request is notfinished yet or the result determination for the server device 3indicated by the transfer destination information is not finished yet(OK or not yet at step S139), the procedure shifts to step S140. Acommunication control unit 42 controls a communicating unit 15 totransfer the request from the portable terminal device 2 to the serverdevice 3 indicated by the transfer destination information at step S140.According to this, the response information indicating whether therequest is processed successfully or not is transmitted from the serverdevice 3 to the MFP 1.

The communication control unit 42 of the MFP 1 controls thecommunicating unit 15 to receive the response information from theserver device 3. A storage control unit 44 of the MFP 1 associates theresponse information received from the server device 3 with thetransferred request and the server device 3 from which the responseinformation is transmitted and accumulates the same as process checkinformation in a HDD 14 at step S141. According to this, a processresult of each server device 3 for each request is accumulated in theHDD 14.

When the communication control unit 42 receives the request from theportable terminal device 2, this refers to the process check informationstored in the HDD 14 to determine whether the server device 3 indicatedby the above-described transfer destination information processes therequest to be transmitted successfully. When the communication controlunit 42 determines that the request is processed successfully, thiscontrols the communicating unit 15 to transmit the request from theportable terminal device 2 to the server device 3 indicated by thetransfer destination information. On the other hand, when thecommunication control unit 42 determines that the request is processedunsuccessfully, this controls the communicating unit 15 to prohibit thetransfer of the request from the portable terminal device 2.

In this manner, the information processing system of the eleventhembodiment determines in advance whether the request may be processed bythe server device to which the request is transferred and transfers therequest to the server device 3 when this may be processed. According tothis, it is possible to improve transfer efficiency of the request fromthe portable terminal device 2 and acquire an effect similar to that ofthe above-described embodiments.

Twelfth Embodiment

An information processing system being a twelfth embodiment is nextdescribed. In a case of the information processing system of theeleventh embodiment described above, when the request is processedsuccessfully in the past, this is transmitted to the server device 3,and when the request is processed unsuccessfully in the past, thetransmission of the same to the server device 3 is prohibited. On theother hand, in the information processing system of the twelfthembodiment, the request processed successfully in the past and therequest similar to the request processed successfully in the past aretransmitted to the server device 3, and the transmission of the requestwhich is processed unsuccessfully in the past to the server device 3 isprohibited.

That is to say, as described as the eleventh embodiment with referenceto FIG. 21, when the request from the portable terminal device 2 istransferred from an MFP 1 to an external device such as the serverdevice 3, response information indicating whether the request isprocessed successfully or not is transmitted from the external devicesuch as the server device 3 to the MFP 1. A storage control unit 44associates the response information, the server device 3, and an APItransferred to the server device 3 with one another and stores the samein a HDD 14 as process check information described above.

On the other hand, the storage control unit 44 extracts one or aplurality of keywords from the API of the request transferred to theserver device 3. A synonym database 60 illustrated in FIG. 22 is storedin the HDD 14. Synonyms such as “upload, register, store, stock, save .. . ”, “file, data” and the like are registered, for example, in thesynonym database 60. The storage control unit 44 searches the synonym ofthe keyword extracted from the request from the portable terminal device2 from the synonym database 60.

A list of APIs illustrated in FIG. 23 is stored in the HDD 14. Thestorage control unit 44 searches the API including the synonym searchedfrom the synonym database 60 (similar API) from the list of the APIsstored in the HDD 14. The storage control unit of the MFP 1 adds thesearched similar API to the process check information to store in theHDD 14. According to this, each request (API), the server device 3 whichprocesses the request, a process result (successful or not), and thesimilar request (similar API) are associated with one another to bestored in the HDD 14 as the process check information.

Next, a communication control unit 42 refers to the process checkinformation of the HDD 14 when transferring the request from theportable terminal device 2. This determines whether the API of therequest transferred is the API processed successfully by the serverdevice 3 indicated by transfer destination information described aboveor the similar API, or whether this is the API processed unsuccessfullyby the server device 3 or the similar API.

When the communication control unit 42 determines that the API of therequest transferred is the API processed successfully by the serverdevice 3 indicated by the above-described transfer destinationinformation or the similar API, this controls a communicating unit 15 totransfer the request from the portable terminal device 2 to the serverdevice 3 indicated by the above-described transfer destinationinformation. On the other hand, when this determines that the API of therequest transferred is the API processed unsuccessfully by the serverdevice 3 indicated by the above-described transfer destinationinformation or the similar API, this controls the communicating unit 15to prohibit the transfer of the request from the portable terminaldevice 2.

In this manner, when the request from the portable terminal device 2 isthe request (API) processed successfully by the server device 3 in thepast or the similar request (similar API), the information processingsystem of the twelfth embodiment transfers the same to the server device3. When the request from the portable terminal device 2 is the request(API) processed unsuccessfully by the server device 3 in the past or thesimilar request (similar API), this prohibits the transfer to the serverdevice 3. According to this, it is possible to improve transferefficiency of the request from the portable terminal device 2 andacquire an effect similar to that of the above-described embodiments.

Thirteenth Embodiment

An information processing system being a thirteenth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the thirteenthembodiment shares information indicating a request from a portableterminal device 2 in which a problem in processing occurs among aplurality of MFPs 1.

A sequence diagram in FIG. 24 illustrates a flow of operation to sharethe information indicating the request from the portable terminal device2 in which the problem in processing occurs among a plurality of MFPs 1in the information processing system being the thirteenth embodiment. Inan example of the information processing system illustrated in FIG. 24,first and second MFPs 1A and 1B are included as the MFPs. The MFP 1A andthe MFP 1B receive response information described above transmitted froma server device 3 when the problem in processing the request of theportable terminal device 2 transferred to the server device 3 occurs.

The response information includes information indicating whether theprocess is successful or not described above, the request in which theproblem occurs, the portable terminal device 2 which transfers therequest in which the problem occurs, a user of the portable terminaldevice 2, a server device which processes the request and the like. Astorage control unit 44 of each of the MFP 1A and the MFP 1B stores theresponse information in a HDD 14 each time this receives the same fromthe server device 3. According to this, problem occurrence historyinformation which is a history of problem occurrence is formed to bestored in the HDD 14.

In such information processing system, suppose that a transferdestination setting unit 43 of the first MFP 1A requests to acquire theproblem occurrence history information at step S151. The request toacquire the problem occurrence history information may be issued attiming specified by an administrator and the like of the MFP 1 or issuedby each MFP to another MFP 1 at a predetermined time interval (poling).

A communication control unit 42 of the first MFP 1A controls acommunicating unit 15 to transmit the request to acquire the problemoccurrence history information to the second MFP 1B (step S152). Thesecond MFP 1B receives the request to acquire the problem occurrencehistory information by the communicating unit 15 controlled by thecommunication control unit 42 to transfer to the storage control unit 44(step S153). The storage control unit 44 reads the problem occurrencehistory information being the history of the problems occurring in thesecond MFP 1B from the HDD 14 of the MFP 1B to transfer to thecommunication control unit 42 (step S154). The communication controlunit 42 of the MFP 1B controls the communicating unit 15 to transmitproblem occurrence history information read from the HDD 14 to the MFP1A (step S155).

The first MFP 1A receives the problem occurrence history informationtransmitted from the second MFP 1B by the communicating unit 15controlled by the communication control unit 42 to transfer to thetransfer destination setting unit 43 (step S156). The transferdestination setting unit 43 transfers the problem occurrence historyinformation to the storage control unit 44 (step S157). The storagecontrol unit 44 stores the problem occurrence history information in theHDD 14 and notifies the transfer destination setting unit 43 thatstorage is completed when the storage is completed (step S158).According to this, the problem occurrence history information stored inthe second MFP 1B may be used (shared) by the first MFP 1A.

That is to say, suppose that a file upload request from the portableterminal device 2 is transmitted to the first MFP 1A at steps S159 andS160. The first MFP 1A receives the file upload request by thecommunicating unit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42 totransfer to a transfer determining unit 48 (step S161). The transferdetermining unit 48 refers to the problem occurrence history informationof the MFP 1A and the MFP 1B stored in the HDD 14 at step S162. Thetransfer determining unit 48 determines whether an API of the fileupload request from the portable terminal device 2 is the API in whichthe problem in processing occurs in the MFP 1A or the MFP 1B. When theproblem occurrence history information corresponding to the file uploadrequest from the portable terminal device 2 is stored in the HDD 14, thetransfer determining unit 48 prohibits the transfer of the file uploadrequest and discards the file upload request.

On the other hand, when the problem occurrence history informationcorresponding to the file upload request from the portable terminaldevice 2 is not stored in the HDD 14, the transfer determining unit 48acquires transfer destination information indicating the server device 3serving as a transfer destination from the storage control unit 44(steps S163 and S164). The transfer determining unit 48 requests thecommunication control unit 42 to transfer the file upload request (stepS165). According to this, the communication control unit 42 controls thecommunicating unit 15 to transfer the file upload request from theportable terminal device 2 to the server device 3 indicated by thetransfer destination information (step S166).

Next, the server device 3 transmits a response to the file uploadrequest from the portable terminal device 2 to the first MFP 1A througha communicating unit 34 controlled by a communication control unit 55 atstep S167. The first MFP 1A receives the response from the server device3 by the communicating unit 15 controlled by the communication controlunit 42 (step S167) and transfers the same to the transfer determiningunit 48 (step S168). The transfer determining unit 48 transmits theresponse from the server device 3 to the portable terminal device 2through the communicating unit 15 controlled by the communicationcontrol unit 42 (steps S169 and S170). A communication control unit 52of the portable terminal device 2 controls a communicating unit 24 toreceive the response from the server device 3 and transfers the receivedresponse to a display control unit 53. The display control unit 53displays the response from the server device 3 on an operating unit 25also serving as the display unit (step S171).

Such information processing system of the thirteenth embodiment mayshare the problem occurrence history information indicating the API inwhich the problem occurs by the MFPs. This may prohibit the transfer ofthe API in which the problem occurs. Therefore, it is possible toimprove transfer efficiency of the request from the portable terminaldevice 2 and acquire an effect similar to that of the above-describedembodiments.

Fourteenth Embodiment

An information processing system being a fourteenth embodiment is nextdescribed. The information processing system of the fourteenthembodiment shares problem occurrence history information described aboveby a plurality of MFPs 1. This also downgrades an individual securitylevel of a user of a portable terminal device 2 who transmits a requestin which a problem in processing occurs and shares the same by aplurality of MFPs 1.

A sequence diagram in FIG. 25 illustrates a flow of operation to sharethe problem occurrence history information and the security level ofeach user among the MFPs 1 in the information processing system beingthe fourteenth embodiment. In an example of the information processingsystem illustrated in FIG. 25, first and second MFPs 1A and 1B areincluded as the MFPs. When the problem in processing the request of theportable terminal device 2 transferred to the server device 3 occurs,the MFP 1A and the MFP 1B record a problem occurrence history in a HDD14 to hold. The MFP 1A and the MFP 1B downgrade the security level ofthe user of the portable terminal device 2 who transmits the request inwhich the problem in processing occurs and share the same.

In such information processing system, suppose that an instruction totransfer a file upload request is issued from the user of the portableterminal device 2. The file upload request is transferred to acommunication control unit 52 through an input processor 51 of theportable terminal device 2 (step S181). The communication control unit52 controls a communicating unit 24 to transmit the file upload requestto the first MFP 1A (step S182).

A communication control unit 42 of the first MFP 1A transfers the fileupload request received from the portable terminal device 2 through acommunicating unit 15 to a transfer determining unit 48 (step S183). Thetransfer determining unit 48 performs a transfer destination determiningprocess described above at step S184. The file upload request is therequest to the server device 3. Therefore, the transfer determining unit48 requests a storage control unit 44 to acquire transfer destinationinformation of the server device 3 registered in advance as a connectingdestination corresponding to the portable terminal device 2 (step S185).The storage control unit 44 reads the transfer destination informationof the server device 3 registered in advance as the connectingdestination corresponding to the portable terminal device 2 from the HDD14 to transfer to the transfer determining unit 48 (step S186).

The transfer determining unit 48 next notifies the communication controlunit 42 of the transfer destination information of the server device 3which becomes a transfer destination and requests the same to transferthe file upload request (step S187). The communication control unit 42controls the communicating unit 15 to transfer the file upload requestto the server device 3 indicated by the transfer destination informationnotified by the transfer determining unit 48 (step S188). The serverdevice 3 which stores a file the upload of which is requested in a HDD36 prohibits the file upload when an illegal program such as a computervirus or illegal data is included in the file. Then, the server device 3transmits response information indicating that the file upload requestfrom the portable terminal device 2 is an illegal request (security NG)to the first MFP 1A through the communicating unit 34 controlled by acommunication control unit 55 (step S189).

The first MFP 1A receives the response information by the communicatingunit 15 controlled by the communication control unit 42 and transfersthe received response information to the transfer determining unit 48(step S190). The transfer determining unit 48 transfers the responseinformation indicating that the request is illegal to the communicationcontrol unit 42 (step S191). When the communication control unit 42receives the response information indicating that the request isillegal, this requests the storage control unit 44 to change thesecurity level and the problem occurrence history information (stepsS192 and S193).

The storage control unit 44 changes to downgrade the security level ofthe user who issues the file upload request out of the security levelsof the users stored in the HDD 14 (refer to FIG. 14). The storagecontrol unit 44 adds an API of the file upload request to the problemoccurrence history information stored in the HDD 14. The storage controlunit 44 transmits completion notification to the communication controlunit 42 when updating of the security level and the problem occurrencehistory information is completed (steps S194 and S195).

When the communication control unit 42 receives the completionnotification, this transmits the response information indicating thatthe file upload request is the illegal request received from the serverdevice 3 to the portable terminal device 2 (step S196). Thecommunication control unit 52 of the portable terminal device 2 receivesthe response information through the communicating unit 24 and transfersthe same to the display control unit 53 (step S197). The display controlunit 53 displays the response information from the server device 3 on anoperating unit 25 serving also as a display unit (step S198).

On the other hand, when the communication control unit 42 of the firstMFP 1A receives the completion notification of an updating process ofthe security level and the problem occurrence history information, thiscontrols the communicating unit 15 to transmit a problem occurrencenotification indicating that the problem occurs in the API of the fileupload request to the second MFP 1B (step S199).

The communication control unit 42 of the second MFP 1B receives theproblem occurrence notification from the first MFP 1A through thecommunicating unit 15 of the second MFP 1B and transfers the same to atransfer destination setting unit 43 (step S200). When the transferdestination setting unit 43 of the second MFP 1B receives the problemoccurrence notification, this requests the storage control unit 44 tochange the security level of the user who issues the illegal file uploadrequest indicated by the problem occurrence notification (step S201).The storage control unit 44 changes to downgrade the security level ofthe user who issues the illegal file upload request out of the securitylevels of the users stored in the HDD 14 of the second MFP 1B (refer toFIG. 14). When the storage control unit 44 changes the security level,this transmits the completion notification indicating that the change iscompleted to the transfer destination setting unit 43 (step S202).

When receiving the completion notification indicating that the change inthe security level is completed, the transfer destination setting unit43 requests the storage control unit 44 to add the problem occurrencehistory information (step S203). When the storage control unit 44receives the request to add the problem occurrence history information,this adds the API of the illegal file upload request to the problemoccurrence history information stored in the HDD 14. The storage controlunit 44 transmits completion notification indicating that the additionis completed to the communication control unit 42 through the transferdestination setting unit 43 when the addition of the problem occurrencehistory information is completed (steps S204 and S205). The completionnotification indicating that the addition is completed is transmittedfrom the second MFP 1B to the first MFP 1A (step S206).

In such information processing system of the fourteenth embodiment, theMFP 1 may automatically update and share the problem occurrence historyinformation and the security levels of the users. Therefore, it ispossible to treat the user who issues the illegal request as aprohibited user in each MFP 1. It is possible to automatically enhancethe security of the information processing system and acquire an effectsimilar to that of the above-described embodiments.

The present invention has an effect of enabling communication between aportable terminal device and another device connected to a networkthrough an intermediating device connected to a predetermined networkwhile securing security of the network.

Although the invention has been described with respect to specificembodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: at leastone memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon; and atleast one processor, wherein the computer readable instructions whenexecuted by the at least one processor configure the at least oneprocessor to, communicate with a portable terminal device and anexternal device; receive a designation of an external device; determinewhether to associate a permission with the external device indicatingthat data received from the portable terminal device is allowed to betransferred to the external device; store transfer destinationinformation of the external device in a storage unit in response toassociating the permission with the external device, the transferdestination information being used for transferring the received data tothe external device to which the received data is allowed to betransferred based on the permission; receive response information fromthe external device each time a request received from the portableterminal device is transferred to the external device; form problemoccurrence history information by storing the response informationreceived from the external device in the storage unit each time theresponse information indicates that a problem in processing atransferred request by the external device occurred; store user levelcheck information indicating a security level for each user of theportable terminal device together with the problem occurrence historyinformation in the storage unit; perform a changing process to downgradethe security level of the user of the portable terminal device whotransmitted the transferred request in which the problem in processingby the external device occurred in response to receiving the responseinformation from the external device indicating that the problem inprocessing the transferred request by the external device occurred;receive, from the portable terminal device, a request to process thereceived data; determine whether the request received from the portableterminal device is a request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information; transfer the received data to theexternal device using the transfer destination information in responseto the at least one processor determining that the request received fromthe portable terminal device is the request to the external deviceindicated by the transfer destination information and is transmitted bya user not having the downgraded security level; and prohibit transferof the received data to the external device in response to the at leastone processor determining that the request received from the portableterminal device is transmitted by the user having the downgradedsecurity level.
 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by the at leastone processor further configure the at least one processor to, determinewhether the request received from the portable terminal device is arequest to the image forming apparatus or the request to the externaldevice indicated by the transfer destination information, and perform aprocess corresponding to the request received from the portable terminaldevice in response to the at least one processor determining that therequest received from the portable terminal device is the request to theimage forming apparatus.
 3. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by theat least one processor further configure the at least one processor to,determine whether the request received from the portable terminal deviceis an illegal request to an unregistered external device which does nothave corresponding transfer destination information stored in thestorage unit, and prohibit transfer of the received data to theunregistered external device in response to the at least one processordetermining that the request received from the portable terminal deviceis the illegal request.
 4. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by theat least one processor further configure the at least one processor to,store security check information indicating a security level of eachrequest received from the portable terminal device and specified levelinformation indicating a security level of the request allowed to betransferred to the external device, refer to the security checkinformation to determine the security level of the request received fromthe portable terminal device and refer to the specified levelinformation to determine the security level of the request allowed to betransferred to the external device, and transfer the received data tothe external device in response to the at least one processordetermining that the security level of the request received from theportable terminal device is not lower than the security level of therequest allowed to be transferred to the external device.
 5. The imageforming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor furtherconfigure the at least one processor to, store authority checkinformation indicating whether each request received from the portableterminal device may be transferred for each authority of a user of theportable terminal device, refer to the authority check information todetermine whether the request received from the portable terminal deviceis the request allowed to be transferred for the authority of the userof the portable terminal device, and transfer the received data to theexternal device in response to the at least one processor determiningthat the request received from the portable terminal device is therequest allowed to be transferred for the authority of the user of theportable terminal device.
 6. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by theat least one processor further configure the at least one processor to,store security check information indicating a security level of eachrequest received from the portable terminal device together with theuser level check information indicating the security level for each userof the portable terminal device, determine whether the security level ofthe request received from the portable terminal device indicated by thesecurity check information is not higher than the security level of theuser of the portable terminal device who transmitted the requestindicated by the user level check information, and transfer the receiveddata to the external device in response to the at least one processordetermining that the security level of the request received from theportable terminal device indicated by the security check information isnot higher than the security level of the user of the portable terminaldevice who transmitted the request indicated by the user level checkinformation.
 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by the at leastone processor further configure the at least one processor to, storesecurity check information indicating a security level of each requestreceived from the portable terminal device and authority level checkinformation indicating a security level of each request for eachauthority of a user of the portable terminal device, determine whetherthe security level of the request received from the portable terminaldevice indicated by the security check information is not higher thanthe security level of the authority of the user of the portable terminaldevice who transmitted the request indicated by the authority levelcheck information, and transfer the received data to the external devicein response to the at least one processor determining that the securitylevel of the request received from the portable terminal deviceindicated by the security check information is not higher than thesecurity level of the authority of the user of the portable terminaldevice who transmitted the request indicated by the authority levelcheck information.
 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by the at leastone processor further configure the at least one processor to, determinewhether the request received from the portable terminal device may beprocessed by the image forming apparatus in response to the at least oneprocessor determining that the request received from the portableterminal device is the request to the image forming apparatus anddetermine whether the request received from the portable terminal devicemay be processed by the external device indicated by the transferdestination information of the request received from the portableterminal device in response to the at least one processor determiningthat the request would be processed by the image forming apparatus withdifficulty, and transfer the received data to the external device inresponse to the at least one processor determining that the externaldevice would be able to process the request and determining that therequest would be processed by the image forming apparatus withdifficulty.
 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, whereinthe computer readable instructions when executed by the at least oneprocessor further configure the at least one processor to, determinewhether the request received from the portable terminal device may beprocessed by the external device indicated by the transfer destinationinformation of the request received from the portable terminal device inresponse to the at least one processor determining that the requestreceived from the portable terminal device is the request to the imageforming apparatus, perform a process corresponding to the requestreceived from the portable terminal device in response to the at leastone processor determining that the request received from the portableterminal device is the request to the image forming apparatus, andtransfer the received data to the external device in response to the atleast one processor determining that the external device would be ableto process the request.
 10. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed by theat least one processor further configure the at least one processor to,classify the request received from the portable terminal device into aplurality of categories, and prohibit transfer of the received data tothe external device in response to the at least one processorclassifying the request received from the portable terminal device undera category with a large security problem, and transfer the received datato the external device in response to the at least one processorclassifying the request received from the portable terminal device undera category with a small security problem.
 11. The image formingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor furtherconfigure the at least one processor to, receive, from the externaldevice to which the request received from the portable terminal deviceis transferred, response information including illegal requestinformation indicating that the transferred request terminal device isan illegal request, store the transferred request which is determined bythe external device to be the illegal request in the storage unit as atransfer prohibited request, and discard the request received from theportable terminal device in response to the request being stored as thetransfer prohibited request.
 12. The image forming apparatus accordingto claim 11, wherein the computer readable instructions when executed bythe at least one processor further configure the at least one processorto, store the user of the portable terminal device who transmitted thetransfer prohibited request in the storage unit as a prohibited user,and discard the request received from the portable terminal device inresponse to the request being received from the user stored as theprohibited user who transmitted the transfer prohibited request.
 13. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the computerreadable instructions when executed by the at least one processorfurther configure the at least one processor to, receive, from theexternal device to which the request received from the portable terminaldevice is transferred, response information including illegal requestinformation indicating that the transferred request is an illegalrequest, perform the changing process to downgrade the security level ofthe user of the portable terminal device who transmitted the illegalrequest out of security levels of users of the portable terminal devicestored in the storage unit as the user level check information.
 14. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computerreadable instructions when executed by the at least one processorfurther configure the at least one processor to, store responseinformation received from the external device indicating whether atransferred request is processed successfully or unsuccessfully by theexternal device in the storage unit as process check information inassociation with the transferred request and the external device fromwhich the response information is received, refer to the process checkinformation when transferring the request received from the portableterminal device to the external device indicated by the transferdestination information to determine whether the external device wouldprocess the request successfully or unsuccessfully, and transfer thereceived data to the external device in response to the at least oneprocessor determining that the request received from the portableterminal device would be processed successfully by the external device,and prohibit transfer of the received data to the external device inresponse to the at least one processor determining that the requestreceived from the portable terminal device would be processedunsuccessfully by the external device.
 15. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions whenexecuted by the at least one processor further configure the at leastone processor to, detect a similar request that is similar to thetransferred request to store in the storage unit in association with thetransferred request of the process check information, refer to theprocess check information when the request to process the received datais received from the portable terminal device to determine whether therequest would be processed successfully or unsuccessfully by theexternal device, and transfer the received data to the external devicein response to the at least one processor determining that the requestreceived from the portable terminal device is the same as thetransferred request processed successfully by the external device or thesimilar request, and prohibit transfer of the received data to theexternal device in response to the at least one processor determiningthat the request received from the portable terminal device is the sameas the transferred request processed unsuccessfully by the externaldevice or the similar request.
 16. An information processing systemcomprising: a portable terminal device configured to transmit a requestthrough a communicating unit; an external device configured to processthe request transmitted from the portable terminal device; and an imageforming apparatus configured to intermediate communication between theportable terminal device and the external device, wherein the imageforming apparatus includes, at least one memory having computer readableinstructions stored thereon; and at least one processor, wherein thecomputer readable instructions when executed by the at least oneprocessor configure the at least one processor to, communicate with theportable terminal device and the external device; receive a designationof an external device; determine whether to associate a permission withthe external device indicating that data received from the portableterminal device is allowed to be transferred to the external device;store transfer destination information of the external device in astorage unit in response to associating the permission with the externaldevice, the transfer destination information being used for transferringthe received data to the external device to which the received data isallowed to be transferred based on the permission; receive responseinformation from the external device each time a request received fromthe portable terminal device is transferred to the external device; formproblem occurrence history information by storing the responseinformation received from the external device in the storage unit eachtime the response information indicates that a problem in processing atransferred request by the external device occurred; store user levelcheck information indicating a security level for each user of theportable terminal device together with the problem occurrence historyinformation in the storage unit; perform a changing process to downgradethe security level of the user of the portable terminal device whotransmitted the transferred request in which the problem in processingby the external device occurred in response to receiving the responseinformation from the external device indicating that the problem inprocessing the transferred request by the external device occurred;receive, from the portable terminal device, a request to process thereceived data; determine whether the request received from the portableterminal device is a request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information; transfer the received data to theexternal device using the transfer destination information in responseto the at least one processor determining that the request received fromthe portable terminal device is the request to the external deviceindicated by the transfer destination information and is transmitted bya user not having the downgraded security level; and prohibit transferof the received data to the external device in response to the at leastone processor determining that the request received from the portableterminal device is transmitted by the user having the downgradedsecurity level.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprisingcomputer readable program codes, the computer readable program codeswhen executed by a computer causing the computer to: communicate with aportable terminal device and an external device; receive a designationof an external device; determine whether to associate a permission withthe external device indicating that data received from the portableterminal device is allowed to be transferred to the external device;store transfer destination information of the external device in astorage unit in response to associating the permission with the externaldevice, the transfer destination information being used for transferringthe received data to the external device to which the received data isallowed to be transferred based on the permission; receive responseinformation from the external device each time a request received fromthe portable terminal device is transferred to the external device; formproblem occurrence history information by storing the responseinformation received from the external device in the storage unit eachtime the response information indicates that a problem in processing atransferred request by the external device occurred; store user levelcheck information indicating a security level for each user of theportable terminal device together with the problem occurrence historyinformation in the storage unit; perform a changing process to downgradethe security level of the user of the portable terminal device whotransmitted the transferred request in which the problem in processingby the external device occurred in response to receiving the responseinformation from the external device indicating that the problem inprocessing the transferred request by the external device occurred;receive, from the portable terminal device, a request to process thereceived data; determine whether the request received from the portableterminal device is a request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information; transfer the received data to theexternal device using the transfer destination information in responseto the computer determining that the request received from the portableterminal device is the request to the external device indicated by thetransfer destination information and is transmitted by a user not havingthe downgraded security level; and prohibit transfer of the receiveddata to the external device in response to the computer determining thatthe request received from the portable terminal device is transmitted bythe user having the downgraded security level.
 18. The image formingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readableinstructions when executed by the at least one processor furtherconfigure the at least one processor to, update the problem occurrencehistory information stored in the storage unit based on problemoccurrence history information acquired from another image formingapparatus; refer to the problem occurrence history information todetermine whether a problem in processing the request received from theportable terminal device by the external device would occur based onwhether the transferred request was processed successfully orunsuccessfully by the external device indicated by the transferdestination information; transfer the received data to the externaldevice using the transfer destination information in response to the atleast one processor determining that the transferred request wasprocessed successfully by the external device indicated by the transferdestination information; and prohibit transfer of the received data tothe external device in response to the at least one Processordetermining that the transferred request was processed unsuccessfully bythe external device indicated by the transfer destination information.